Of the readings we were assigned by Tennyson I chose to focus on The Coming of Arthur. The beginning quite resemble that of stories we have become very familiar with. Arthur is described as uniting the kingdom under his rule, and a brief mention of Guinevere's beauty foretold. As we have grown accustom to in mallory and D' Troyes beginnings often start like this. Then we reach the second page and a mention of werwolves is thrown into the text. It is interesting that the story starts with such a mythical creature never have to be mentioned in any readings before this era. Which lead me to believe that this reading my have more magical/mythical happens than those we are used to. They story then however veers back toward familiar territory when arthur is described as riding among his knights into battle, here is where the first mention of money is encountered. As we have previously discussed in class it seems like money shows your social standing so it was interesting that within the opening scene King Arthur is seen riding as "a simple knight, among his knights, and many of these richer in arms than he". Its almost demoralizing to describe him in this way which we are not used to seeing especially concerning King Arthur. However this does show that some of our old narrative motifs are going to come into play within the Tennyson take of this story. the story continues on with the claim that Arthur is not rightfully king and then the desire for Guinevere blooms..(sound familiar?) Also the vision dream on page 32 makes an apperence once more, but there is the difference in that it seems it wont predict the suture but maybe foretell bad or good fortune to come. What then throws the story off is that no one seems to know of Arthur's heritage which is true in pervious stories but the undertaking of finding his true lineage is dragged out for a couple pages and is much more of a scene within this book. It was in fact a factor in Guinevere's decision to mary Arthur. Which is strange because before this story everyone knew of Arthur's lineage before he wished to marry Guinevere. In this take however Guinevere does not know of his Kingsmanship and is doubtful of that to marry him because of this. Going Back to Uther's reign a new light is shed on the Igraine situation. " enforced she was to wed him in her tears and with a shameful swiftness". In mallory she was tricked by merlin but seemed not to mind, in Tennyson she is utterly against the union. While were on the topic of describing differences Mallory also had a different father figure for Arthur than Tennyson. The irregularity in this is strange because in no other story has Arthurs "father" not been Sir Ector where in this story his name is Anton.
Moving away from differences there was a very peculiar part of this story that caught my attention. Guinevere talks of knowing the King long before this marriage proposal (no mention of Lancelot). Page thirty gives a short story told from Guinevere's point of view about how as a child she had been beaten and arthur ha come to her aid to cheer her up ad then she knew she loved him. Never before do we see the mention of intermingling childhoods before this, so this type of background information is fascinating. And sets up the premise that these two have a much stronger relationship than seen before in any novel.
I chose only one of the two stories to discuss because as you see if i were to analyze both this would become ridiculously long. =)
I like what you say about Tennyson’s version of Arthur and Guinevere. The idea of him being a part of her past and vice versa is really interesting. On top of that, we also see Guinevere as Arthur is riding off to his first battle as King. All of this is much more romantic than Malory’s version of their relationship, which basically consists of him asking Merlin if Guinevere is a good match for him because she is pretty and wealthy. In Tennyson, there is much more of an emphasis on today’s modern view of marriage as an important union for romantic and emotional reasons, rather than the practical union that it was in the past. Tennyson writes Arthur’s thoughts about Guinevere when he sees her as he is riding off to battle, “But were I join’d with her,/Then might we live together as one life,/And reigning with one will in everything/Have power on this dark land to lighten it,/And power on this dead world to make it live.” (23, lines 89-93).
ReplyDeleteTennyson’s version seems to have some undertones of courtly love, because Arthur is expressing such an instant and all-consuming love for Guinevere. But in some ways it is much more realistic than Malory’s version. I like that you also brought up the Igraine thing--especially because it was ridiculous for her to consent to marry Uther in Malory’s text, and Tennyson makes her actions more likely.